By JN Reporter
The African National Congress (ANC) stands at a defining moment as it prepares to select candidates for upcoming elections, with analysts warning the process could either rebuild public trust or deepen internal divisions. The party’s move to headhunt candidates while inviting community input has sparked debate about transparency, renewal, and accountability.
Experts say how the ANC balances these competing pressures will not only shape its electoral prospects but also test its commitment to democratic principles amid growing public scrutiny.
Addressing media on Friday at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the party will be shopping around for suitable mayoral candidates to contest the upcoming local government elections and the decision to headhunt candidates followed an assessment of poor municipal performance that had eroded public trust.
He said, given persistent and systemic challenges in local government, the party would take extraordinary steps to ensure leadership deployed to municipalities is capable, ethical, disciplined, and accountable.
"The ANC will embark on an intensive national process of identifying and headhunting capable mayoral candidates from across society. This includes experienced public representatives, professionals, community leaders, veterans of government, and individuals with proven leadership track records and governance capability," said Mbalula.
However, speaking to Journal News on Saturday, political analyst Prof Sethulego Matebesi - Associate Professor and Academic Head of the Department of Sociology - said the move is politically meaningful, but its credibility will depend on whether the party is willing to sacrifice powerful but underperforming or corrupt incumbents when evidence is clear.
“Without that, the extraordinary measures language risks devolving into a familiar pattern of high-sounding rhetoric with limited operational enforcement,” he said.
He added that while Mbalula’s pledge is significant in rhetorical terms, it must be judged against the party’s track record over the past two decades.
“The new 2026 candidate-selection rules introduce tighter screening, lifestyle audit provisions, and more centralised oversight, creating a formal architecture for accountability. The introduction of binding ‘mayoral delivery agreements’ that mayors must sign upon assuming office is another signal that leadership wants to tie expectations to concrete performance indicators,” he said.
Matebesi noted that while the approach is not entirely new—having been outlined in the 2001 discussion document Through the Eye of a Needle—the current process introduces a more centralised, competency-based mayoral selection framework.
“If taken seriously, this could reduce the power of local elites and factional operators who have historically used decentralised systems to entrench loyalty over capability. However, the real test, is whether the national centre enforces standards or simply rationalises top-down control while preserving existing networks,” he warned.
The party will also invite communities to nominate candidates to lead local councils. However, similar efforts in the past have drawn criticism, with residents feeling consulted but not genuinely empowered when party preferences prevailed.
Matebesi said the 2026 rules represent a modest improvement, but stop short of making community choices decisive.
“Given the ANC’s entrenched internal power structures and the centrality of cadre deployment, this is a moderate shift toward grassroots engagement rather than a radical break. While the process may be more transparent, there is still a high risk that national and regional leadership will retain the final say, especially in key municipalities. Whether this deepens local democracy will depend on how firmly leaders are held accountable when they override community preferences,” he said.
He concluded that the party is under pressure, and only time will tell whether voters will see genuine reform in local government or more reformist rhetoric.
